sdl

This is a discussion on sdl within the Game Programming forums, part of the General Programming Boards category; i was checking out sdl, and it looks like it is only a header file that is manipulated using C.
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i was checking out sdl, and it looks like it is only a header file that is manipulated using C.
is this accurate?

Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, 3D hardware via OpenGL, and 2D video framebuffer. It is used by MPEG playback software, emulators, and many popular games, including the award winning Linux port of "Civilization: Call To Power."

its not a header. you include the header and link the library to your project to use the relevant functions from the library. It has a C interface yes. but its not just a header.

so when you say interface, do you mean that sdl and opengl is it's own language that is dependent on another language to impliment it. (in this case c)? i was on the website that you posted and saw some code that looked just like c.

so when you say interface, do you mean that sdl and opengl is it's own language that is dependent on another language to impliment it. (in this case c)? i was on the website that you posted and saw some code that looked just like c.

SDL is written in C, but works with C++ natively, and has bindings to several other languages, including Ada, Eiffel, Java, Lua, ML, Perl, PHP, Pike, Python, and Ruby.

openGL is a different library but is incorporated into SDL. they aren't a language. they are a library, a set of functions and routines to simplfy your life. diferent libraries do dif things. this one just happens to work with your cd room, and video. A library just makes your life easier so you don't have to code it yourself.
kinda like when you #include <stdio.h> in c, this is a header that allows you access C's i/o functions. without which you'd have to code your own i/o routines in assembly.

thank you for the information.
I have checked out the site, and documents.
i haven't had time to get to indepth, due to the semester is getting really close to finals week.
i'm just trying to get some misc. details to determine if that is what i want to learn over christmas break.
thank you to all that have provided clarification.
it helped me make my decision.

I take it you code in C. if you don't, another language called http://www.pygame.org/ has a module in it called pygame which uses SDL . browse the site, maybe even learn python, its really easy to pick up, guranteed you'll get it in a couple hours max, and then use the pygame module and I gurantee you'll enjoy it. let me know how it turns out.